Contact Us

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

How do you make the most of family time?: introducing the new McDonald’s “Every Minute Counts” widget

This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and McDonald's.

This is the second and final part of our McDonald’s trip review and I’m excited to talk about family time and charity. Y’all know that TubaDad travels quite a bit for work. Oh so much traveling… So when he’s back in town we do the happy dance and make THE MOST of our family time. We’re not picky about what we do, as long as we do it together. Seriously, the tiniest little things make us grin. Like giving each other makeovers with cheap Claire’s makeup the other day. Oh man this made us laugh (and yes, we took the girls out of the house looking like that).

We hang out together and do slightly more conventional family time activities too:

Traveling at the drop of a hat: say it with me, ROADTRIP!!

Listening to music (lots of tuba, of course), dancing, and singing

Playing at parks, amusement parks, or the beach

Watching movies

Or just hanging out in the backyard or the pool

Yeah, we enjoy spending time together. That’s probably not a shocker to anyone reading this, is it? Heh. Now, though, there’s a simple way to turn this family time into a charity donation. We learned about this when our family visited McDonald’s corporate headquarters and a Ronald McDonald House Charity® back in June, and were all pretty psyched for them to roll it out. Here’s the deal: McDonald’s has just introduced a new online tool to promote family time and raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®). Basically, this widget collects family-time pledges. And McDonald’s will donate 1 penny to RMHC® for every minute of time a person pledges to spend with his/her family, with the goal of reaching 1-million minutes. This widget is part of a new national fundraiser the company launched that also includes their Happy Meals. For each Happy Meal® and Mighty Kids Meal® sold in the U.S., a portion of the sales will be donated to RMHC – McDonald’s “Charity of Choice” for more than 35 years.

Now you might be thinking (like me), that a penny is a teeny amount that won’t make any difference. But these pennies and minutes add up fast. Last year, those little spare-change-donation boxes that you see on the counter of every McDonald’s raised nearly $20 million for local RMHC Chapters. Not bad! So make a family-time pledge today, and feel good about spending time with your family and helping charity. Shoot, do what we’re going to do and tell your kids about the RMHC and get them to pledge what they’d like to do as a family.

The giveaway:

One winner will be chosen to win a McDonald’s Family Fun Prize Pack, which includes a McDonald’s smile tote bag, surprise set of Happy Meal toys, $25 McDonald’s Arch card (can be used for any purchase at a McD’s), McDonald’s Vintage Character T-Shirt, Pen-Buddy notebook, Organic Lip Balm, McDonald’s Stainless Tumbler, and a Just-Give gift card for any charity of the winner’s choice.

To enter the giveaway, pledge family time on the McDonald's “Make Family Time Happy Time” widget (above) and let us know what you pledged in the comment section for a chance to win! (You don’t have to sign up, register, or give any identifying info in the widget.) We’d also love to hear if you have a favorite family memory tied to McDonald’s.

I also just facebooked/twitted about my pledge. I don't do twitter but clicked on the facebook link and it posted there. My page is private.http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1335503014#!/sweetiee1?v=wall&story_fbid=147288875289875&ref=notif&notif_t=feed_comment

i pledged 30 minutes of collecting clothes/items for donation.my best mc d memory is that after weeks of trying to get my son to try adult/big boy food..he lunged for a mc d french fry and he's been eating them ever sincenannypanpan at sbcglobal.net

I pledged 60 minutes to do yoga or pilates with my family. My 5 y.o. loves to do this with me and it's a great way to bond, but this time I'm going to *drag* the Huz to join us too. We already do family disco, why not do exercise too?christina

I used the widget and pledged 120 minutes (actually per day for one week, but that isn't an option) to turn the tv off and spend time with my family. I have been looking for a reason to leave it off more and give all of my attention to on dancing/ playing dress up/ playing dolls with my daughter.

I remember the first time my older brother baby-sat our baby sister and I alone. He took us to McD's for dinner. She was so happy to play, and we had a great time just talking and munching. That was about the time we started becoming friends instead of just siblings.

I pledged 60 minutes of my family packing up donations of clothes and toys for a local shelter. My kids like the idea of donating toys after they saw Toy Story 3, as long as we stay away from their favorites.

I pledged 120 minutes of taking nature photos with my family. A very close friend was helped by McDonalds during a difficult time when her son was born and very sick. He went on to heaven, but that reminded me of how important every minute with my family is and always should be. McDonald's house was a great help to her and I will always appreciate that.